


Chase’s Trials

by CWhit, eemawrites



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Chase is technically dying too, Court of Owls, Gen, This is an Oc Fic, the Talon Trials, there’s a death in here, ya’ll know how the Court be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26690614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CWhit/pseuds/CWhit, https://archiveofourown.org/users/eemawrites/pseuds/eemawrites
Summary: In which Chase passes his Trials.
Kudos: 2





	Chase’s Trials

**Author's Note:**

> What it says on the can. Pretty short (I think this is the shortest side story written for these OCs). Again, this is for an OC fic I’ve been working on for a few months.

He dropped to the tile with his mentor.

He couldn’t breathe, and it wasn't even because of the knife buried in his ribs. His mentor- he’d just killed his teacher. He’d _killed_ him.

Above him, the Grandmaster was congratulating him, droning on about his worthiness and his skill, how he’d never let the Court down, and all Chase could see was his mentor’s eyes, glazed and unfocused, staring blankly over his shoulder.

Chase realized belatedly that he was contributing to the blood on the floor. He had gashes all along his shoulders, ribs, and body, with a particularly nasty one almost severing one foot entirely. It didn’t matter, he could tell- he was already dying, bleeding out even as his lungs filled with blood. Nothing he did now would even delay his death. He started to shake, so he let himself sink down, keeping one hand braced against the knife so it wouldn’t move and lowering himself with the other arm. He rested his cheek on the tile and kept his eyes on his mentor, quietly pleased with the knowledge that he would die too. He wouldn’t have to live with himself knowing that he had followed the Court’s instructions and killed his mentor.

The older Talon looked peaceful despite the blood, and Chase hoped he was. His mentor had lived a long life serving the Court, and had often seemed distressed or upset after many of his missions. He’d never spoken ill of the Court to Chase, but some nights his mentor wouldn’t even sleep after coming back from a mission. He’d return to the Roost, park by the entrance, and stare into the middle distance with a haunted expression until dawn.

Chase had never pushed him to talk about what bothered him, but a part of him wished he’d had now.

He reached out and gently closed his mentor’s eyes, then settled a little more firmly on the floor and wished the Grandmaster would just shut up and let him die in peace. He was clearly dying, so why was he still talking, anyway? Breathing suddenly got a lot harder and he almost started seizing, choking on air and blood in ragged gasps. He let his eyes close, hoping it would be over soon.

And then arms slid under his body and legs and picked him up. Chase seized for real this time, lashing out with all of the fear he had. It hurt like hell and he felt the gash on his leg rip open further, but it worked. He dropped back to the tile immediately, gasping breathlessly at the impact. He tried to push himself up onto his forearms, wondering what was happening. Another phase of the Trials? His brain was running sluggishly and it was hard to think, but he was pretty sure there wasn’t supposed to be another Trial.

A boot crashed down on the back of his head and the world went black.


End file.
